Battle of the Drabbles
by Ha'niqua
Summary: A collection of five drabbles written for the Battle of the Drabbles competition at the DG Forum - rated M for some darker themes in the first, fourth and fifth drabbles.
1. Devotion

Written for the Battle of the Drabbles competition at the DG Forum. Each week writers were given a prompt, with one week to write a response. At the end of the week responses were posted at the DG Forum profile, where readers had a week to read and vote for their two favourite drabbles.

Please review and let me know what you think!

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**Round One**

**Prompt: **Write DG piece inspired by a picture, which was of a maze.

**Word count: **750 words.

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**Devotion, Second Place**

Ginny smiled up at Draco, brushing a thumb lightly across the back of his hand as she held it firmly in her own. His skin was smooth even as the curve of each knuckle was beautifully scarred and weathered by time, and she admired the way his hand fit so perfectly in her own.

He didn't return her smile, nor did he respond as she pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth, her stiff joints creaking as she stretched to meet him. He continued glowering stoically across his domain, an endless sea of green she had lost herself in countless times over the years as she searched for her love.

She pressed her body against his, taking comfort from his immovable form. It had taken her longer than usual to find him this time, and her smile almost faltered at the thought that he had gone to the trouble of hiding himself from her so thoroughly. But Ginny knew her Draco would not be so cruel to her - never to her. Perhaps it was her body, which had not withstood the passage of time nearly so well as his, that had caused it.

The sun was rising, and the golden rays licked at her body, warming her as Draco could not. She lifted her hand, brushing her fingers against his hair, trailing them across the smooth line of his jaw. "There's nothing to fear when we're together, my dragon."

The remark was futile, and she knew it well. She had spoken to him countless times over the years, but nothing she said or did would smooth the crease of his brow, nor lift the hard frown of his mouth.

It had been so long since he had smiled last. She would have forgotten what it looked like had she not protected her treasured memories so fiercely, nor dreamt of him so often. Even now, she could see him smiling handsomely when she closed her eyes, though he never looked at her. His smiles were always at others, but she knew - she knew - the secret smiles were for her. Their love was forbidden, and it was the greatness of his love for her that made him protect her so staunchly.

The ground rumbled beneath her feet, as though woken from a deep slumber, and she knew she had stayed too long. Leaves rustled behind her as branches delicately caressed each other, and the walls of Draco's chamber closed, locking her inside.

Perhaps it was finally time to emerge from the shadows, to let the sun look down on her love and envy it's brilliance. Her smile brightened at the thought that she might finally be free of the secrets that had plagued her for so long.

Draco watched her as she reached into the pocket of her robes and removed the tiny crystal vial she had stolen. Her hand steady, she removed the ornately sculpted stopper and downed the contents, giggling when a small hiccup escaped her lips. She placed the empty vessel in the curve of his hand, then pressed both of her own against his chest to steady her shaking body. She smiled through the pain when she looked up at Draco, determined to stay strong for him, and she thought his frown might have lessened slightly, his furrowed brow perhaps in anticipation of what might be.

She gave him one last adoration filled kiss, her mouth curving in a blissful smile despite the pain raging through her. Her body grew cold, her skin blackened and veined like marble and she joined her soul mate in eternity.


	2. Benefaction

This fic is a sort-of sequel to another drabble I wrote called Some Brotherly Advice, which is posted on my profile. I will readily admit that the sort-of sequel is significantly better than the original, which I hope to revise at some point in future.

(And I should also add that these fics were all posted anonymously during the challenge. You can find the original versions of mine and of the other participant's entries at The DG Forum's profile)

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**Round Two**

**Influence:** _Opinions Won't Keep You Warm At Night_ by Kisschasy

**Must include:** A political alliance

**Word count:** 1000

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**Benefaction, Third Place**

Draco stalked into his office, slamming the door shut so hard that it bounced open again, and he scowled at the offending object. Clearly, nothing was going to go his way this morning if he couldn't even slam a door properly.

He took a deep breath and sat down at his desk, pulling out the latest policy proposals for review.

It wasn't much longer before there was a timid knock on the door. "Enter," he commanded sharply, and knew his assistant had arrived from the click-clack of heels across the marble floor of his office. She waited in silence until he finished reviewing the documents, signing the parchment with a flourish of his quill.

"Good morning, Mister Malfoy," Orla Quirke said affably, "I have your nine o'clock here to see you, and your portkey to the Annual International Magical Relations Gala tonight has arrived. Madame Delacour has assured me your dress robes will be delivered shortly."

He nodded. "Excellent, you can show Weasley in."

Orla paused to unnecessarily adjust her thickly framed glasses, and he narrowed his eyes at her. She was stalling. "What else?"

"The Prophet has published another article..." Her sentence trailed off as she brushed a piece of imaginary lint from her skirt.

Draco closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as frustration welled up inside him. Taking another deep breath, he picked up a stack of parchment and tidied the pile. "Bring me a copy of The Prophet immediately. I'll see Weasley now."

It was only a minute later that his old colleague Percy Weasley strolled into the room with a confident looking Ginny Weasley strutting behind him. A rodent infestation. Brilliant.

"If Orla is going to let just anyone waltz into my office unannounced, then perhaps I should have her sacked." Draco said, scowling at the pair as he stood and shook Percy's hand.

Ginny returned his look with a grimace. "No need for that, Malfoy, I only arrived a moment before Percy was shown in. The poor girl must have been rather flustered to unexpectedly come across such a renowned Quidditch star."

Draco was absolutely positive that Orla had never been flustered in her life, and had heard enough about Ginny Weasley from her brother to know that she could be modest to a fault. Logic said that she had intentionally slipped past his receptionist and secretaries... But why? "You'll understand if I'm reluctant to offer you a seat, then."

Ginny sat down in one of the leather chairs opposite his desk anyway, reclining a little too casually as her robes parted to reveal her toned legs when she crossed them. Percy occupied the other chair, looking anything but comfortable in his current predicament. Draco steepled his fingers under his chin, waiting for one of them to cut to the chase; Malfoys were above playing such trivial games, after all.

Percy cracked first. "We have... a proposal for the Gala tonight."

Draco raised a single brow at the statement. "'A proposal,'" he repeated, flatly.

Ginny mistook his remark for interest, if the knowing glint in her molten gold eyes was any indication, but instead of elaborating she coolly lifted one hand to examine her manicure, as though waiting for something.

Another knock came from the door, and Orla entered with a tray of fine china and a carefully folded copy of The Prophet levitated before her. Ever discreet, she didn't bat an eye at Ginny's inexplicable appearance in his office, but promptly placed the tray on his desk and left once more.

A glance at the headline for today's paper made his stomach drop. A Malfoy's Secret Shame, the article proclaimed boldly, Draco spells 'Doom' for muggle-borns.

"It seems you have a scandal on your hands, Malfoy," Percy said in a business-like tone, and Draco looked directly at each of the Weasleys, his gaze unflinching.

Ginny gave him a knowing smile. "As we were saying, we have a proposal for you."

"I'm listening." He said, careful to remain composed and unaffected.

"Of course you are well aware, appearances are everything," Percy Weasley put on the winning political smile they had both learnt during their time working in the Ministry's International Magical Relations Department, as though to emphasise the point. "We'd like to help you with the chip on your shoulder, so to speak."

"If you were to be seen socially with someone who was perceived to be the antithesis of how you've been portrayed by this recent rash of articles, the backlash from them would be considerably less." Ginny interjected.

Draco tilted his head silently, swallowing any snappy remarks out of respect for his old colleague. Besides, it didn't take a genius to see where Ginny was heading with this, and he had to admit he wasn't entirely displeased by the idea. Weasley was an attractive witch, who even into her late twenties was still seen as one of the darlings of the wizarding community due to her family's notoriety and their efforts surrounding the war. These occasions tended to be frightfully dreary anyway, so having her on his arm this evening mightn't be such a hardship...

"An intriguing proposal," he said, then paused to lift his tea cup and take a deliberative sip, "What's the catch?"

"No catch. I'm just doing a favour for a friend." Ginny said as she lifted one shoulder in a half hearted shrug.

He leant back in his chair, taking a moment to deliberate. "Okay, you have yourself a deal."

* * *

Percy gave Ginny a bemused look once they were safely on the street and she removed her disillusionment charm. "I still don't understand why you went to all that trouble just to get Hermione a date for tonight."

Ginny smiled up at her older brother. "Hermione needs the political benefaction. Besides, he'll start thinking of me as a woman, not a Weasley, now that I've planted the idea." She said with a wink, before Apparating to tell Hermione the good news.


	3. Incendiary

This is hands down my least favourite of the bunch, which serves me right for writing a drabble in less than an hour, but I didn't really know what else to do with the prompt. I hope y'all enjoy it anyway. *laughs*

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**Round Three**

**Genre: **Comedy

**Prompt: **A bad hair day

**Word count:** 1000 words.

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**Incendiary**

Draco tapped his foot impatiently as he waited in line for Filch, The Moronic Squib Extraordinaire, to check each student's permission slips.

He frowned when he glanced up to the clock that stood sentinel over the courtyard. It was already eleven in the morning, and had been waiting far too long already. Draco had important things to do today.

"Crabbe, Goyle." He snapped, and the boys needed no more direction as they barged forward, making space for the three of them to move further up the queue. He sauntered behind them, smirking haughtily at the other students as he went past. The boys weren't the clearest remembralls in the cabinet, but at least they did the few tricks he'd taught them well.

"Watch it, Malfoy!" a feminine voice yelled, and the smirk almost fell from his lips when he whirled around to find Ginny Weasley returning to her spot in the line. He caught himself just in time, and instead raised a single brow at her. "How dare you tell me what to do, Weasley. Remember your place."

Weasley seemed amused by that remark. "Oh, but I do remember my place." She said in an uncharacteristically cool manner, then brushed him aside to resume her position in front of him. Other students seemed to hesitantly take their cue from her, and began to return to their places as though he, Draco Lucius Malfoy, didn't exist. Inconceivable.

He turned back to Crabbe and Goyle. "What are you waiting for?" Draco snapped.

They exchanged a blank look, and Draco wondered not for the first time why he bothered to keep the morons around. "Stop them. Now." He ordered through gritted teeth, and with a shrug the boys barreled forward once again.

The students who had slowly been returning to their spots jumped out of the way again, at least until Ginny Weasley whirled around, wand aimed straight at the trio, and Crabbe and Goyle stopped dead in their tracks. "Don't try to move me, or I'll hex all three of you into next week." She said as she lifted her chin, daring them to test her.

Draco briefly entertained the idea of marching straight up to the insolent girl and telling her exactly what she could do with her hexes, but instantly dashed the idea at the thought of being hit point-blank by a hot headed Weasley. Besides, he had a far more amusing plan.

"Don't listen to that filthy muggle-lover." He said imperiously, and Crabbe and Goyle charged forward once more, like the well-trained animals they were.

Ginny made an irritated noise and set about following through with her threat, and Draco smirked as he pulled out his wand. "Incendio capillatio!" He said, his smirk widening at Ginny's sudden shrieks.

"Malfoy!" She screamed, wide eyed as her hands grabbed at her hair - or rather, where her hair had been moments ago.

"My, Wealsey, you're rather splendid at doing justice to the term 'flaming ginger'." He remarked demurely as he regarded the glowing red flames dancing from her scalp.

"Y-you... you..." She blathered and he lifted his hand to his mouth in a mock-yawn before turning to Crabbe and Goyle, who were slowly rising from the ground.

"Let's go." He snapped, then pushed past Weasley and the other students who seemed to be too stunned to object.

He'd almost made it to Filch, and victory was in sight, when suddenly he was knocked to the ground with the force of a bludger.

"Fix it!" A voice yelled as bony fists reigned down on his back.

"Get her off me!" Draco yelled at his cronies as he tried to put his arms over his head and protect himself, but the hits kept on coming and she somehow managed to twist him onto his back. His head clanged against the cobblestones below when she grabbed his shoulders and shook him forcefully, and he tried to push her off of him to no avail. Her wand was pressed to his throat where his adam's apple bobbed nervously, and her nose was pressed against his she leant so close.

His face grew hot from the heat of the flames flickering above him. "Fix. It. Now." He heard her say, barely audible above the rushing in his ears.

Suddenly the heat vanished, and Ginny was lifted into the air.

"What is the meaning of this?" A voice said, and he turned his head to see McGonagall striding across the courtyard towards them, followed by a frantic looking Filch. Ginny kicked her legs in the air where Hagrid held her off the ground until she realised that her hair had been returned to his usual flaming brilliance. Her reaction was instantaneous as she stopped flailing about and plunged her hands amongst the loose curls with a relieved expression.

"In all my years at this school I have never seen such volatile behaviour, Miss Weasley." McGonagall continued, shooting the girl in question a piercing look.

Ginny in turn threw a venomous glare at Draco. "It was self defense." She said, clenching her fists.

McGonagall turned to Draco. "And Mr Malfoy, I had expected better from you than to play at such dangerous magic."

Draco quickly got to his feet, brushing the dirt from his robes. "Weasley was-"

"That's enough," McGonagall cut him off, and he fell silent with a scowl. "I don't want to hear another word from either of you about who started it."

She turned to Filch, who was now looking positively gleeful. "Argus, neither Mr Malfoy or Miss Weasley are to step foot outside the school grounds today, and they will be serving detention with you every Saturday until the next Hogsmeade weekend. Perhaps they'll have learnt to act like responsible adults by then."

"But-"

"No buts, Mr Malfoy. Whatever it was you had planned can wait."

Draco's jaw dropped, and he fixed Ginny with a seething glare. She'd ruined everything.

"You're going to regret this." He spat at her, before storming off.


	4. Eternal

This one is probably my favourite out of everything I wrote during the challenge, so I'd love it if you'd share your thoughts. ;)

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**Round Four**

**Prompt:** 'We are the fallen angels'

**Word count:** 500-700 words

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**Eternal, Third Place**

He found her in the Forbidden Forest, in the dead of night.

He supposed it was ironic that that's where their paths should converge after so long; a fitting name for a fitting meeting. The word seemed to echo around them, howled by the wind and whispered amongst the leaves. Forbidden they said, and for the first time he felt a phantom chill of regret.

He stood watching her as she knelt on the forest floor in a pool of autumn leaves and mist, silent as the grave. There was a fragility to her, though she remained unmoving as the frigid wind whipped her bare skin. Only the untamed locks of her fiery hair crackled wildly through the air and he found himself admiring how the colour remained so brilliant after so long, even as the shadows of the night stole the reds and golds of the fallen leaves. But that was his Ginevra; always so vibrant, light and colour personified, even in her darkest hour.

This hour was perhaps the darkest of all.

She broke the silence, her voice ragged as though she had screamed her throat raw, and he flinched at the thought she might be in pain. "How could you leave me?"

I had to. He thought tersely, but didn't dare utter the words.

She let out a sorrow filled sigh, her breath catching as she choked back a sob.

Don't, he wanted to tell her, you've mourned enough for a thousand lifetimes, but again he said nothing, merely stood and watched coldly as her shoulders quivered and she wept .

It seemed like an impossible stretch time before she fell silent once more and took a steadying breath, as though to prepare herself for what was to come.

The urge to go to her, to lend her his strength, to be everything she needed hit him hard, but he didn't crumple under the force of his desire. The feelings were familiar, had been his constant companions for so long that he had learnt to bear the weight of them. But Draco was tired. He was tired of pretending, of being indifferent, and the words slipped out before he could stop himself.

"Be strong." He whispered, his voice barely audible above the wind, and his words echoed about them, sending chills across her skin.

She turned, her eyes glinting through the shadows obscuring her face, but they were unfocused and she looked straight through him as though he didn't exist. She slowly rose, her legs shaking weakly under her weight.

He didn't move, couldn't move as she came toward him, and the bargain he had made with his master echoed through his mind.

_Promise me she'll live. He had pleaded weakly as his master trailed one cold, slender finger across his filthy cheek._

_So ready to sacrifice everything, his master had observed with a cruel smile. She will be kept alive. Oh yes, she certainly will._

"You will pay for what you took from me. I vow an unbreakable vow, you will pay." Her voice shook him from the memory.

His eyes widened when a flare of magic completed her pledge, and he caught her pretty mouth twisted in a vicious scowl. Fury welled up inside him as he glimpsed her bare skin under the scrap of cloth she clutched to her skeletal frame, innumerable scars puckered angrily across her naked flesh. Her wrists had been rubbed raw and drops of blood slowly trickled downward, steady tears of crimson falling to the earth. Perhaps most shocking of all, her ruined face hadn't aged a day in the long nineteen years since he'd last seen her.

He fell to his knees, devastated by the sight of her, of the repercussions of his sacrifice. His master had kept his word, Ginevra had been kept alive... and would be kept alive forever, to be used and tortured as the Dark Lord pleased.

But Ginevra had escaped, and she had nothing left to lose. She walked through his incorporeal form, breaking his imperceptible body apart, and when the flurry of silvery wisps of smoke came together again she was little more than a shadow amongst the trees.

He followed her.


	5. Blur

And the final response! I hope you guys enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them... because they were a total pain in the ass to write (especially this little fire trucker). ;)

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**Round Five**

**Inspiration:** "The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops." (Waiting for Godot)

**Word count:** 100

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**Blur, Third Place**

His eyes glint silver in the moonlight as I kneel before him.

My vision blurs and I breath deeply, desperate for him not to see me so weak, so vulnerable, so absolutely abhorrent.

He is cold and distant. He is beyond my reach, and his contemptuous sneer is too much. I crack.

"You promised," I cry weakly.

His expression softens, and his eyes become distant. "Did I?" he asks, almost smiling.

The tip of his wand presses between my eyes while burning tears roll down my cheeks with abandon. It's my turn to weep, though I'll soon forget why.

"Imperio."


End file.
